Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his …

William Chambers, painted in 1764 by Frances Cotes

The central courtyard of Chambers' Somerset House in London. The pavement fountain was installed in the 1990s.

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Image: Richmondpalaceunbuil tproposal William Chambers 1765

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William Chambers (architect)
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Sir William Chambers RA was a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, London, and the pagoda at Kew, Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. William Chambers was born on 23 February 1723 in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making three voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration. Returning to Europe, he studied architecture in Paris and spent five years in Italy, then, in 1755, he moved to London, where he established an architectural practice. He worked for Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales making fanciful garden buildings at Kew and he developed his Chinese interests further with his Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, a fanciful elaboration of contemporary English ideas about the naturalistic style of gardening in China. His more serious and academic Treatise on Civil Architecture published in 1759 proved influential on builders and it included ideas from the works of many 16th- and 17th-century Italian architects then still little known in Britain. His influence was transmitted through a host of younger architects trained as pupils in his office, including Thomas Hardwick, who helped him build Somerset House. He was the rival of Adam in British Neoclassicism. Chambers was more international in outlook and was influenced by continental neoclassicism when designing for British clients, a second visit to Paris in 1774 confirmed the French cast to his sober and conservative refined blend of Neoclassicism and Palladian conventions. From around 1758 to the mid-1770s, Chambers concentrated on building houses for the nobility, in 1766 Chambers was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His initial plans for an oval courtyard, connected to three smaller, narrow rectangular courts, were soon modified into a simpler rectalinear scheme. On 10 December 1768 the Royal Academy was founded and he was appointed the Academys first Treasurer. Chambers died in London in 1796, also designed two garden temples, similar to those at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Within Kew Gardens, some of his buildings are lost, those remaining being the ten-storey Pagoda, the Orangery, the Ruined Arch, the Temple of Bellona, the Pagoda, in Pagoda Gardens, Blackheath, London is attributed to Chambers. A three-storey house built as a pavilion for the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, caroline of Brunswick lived here after her separation from her husband, the Prince Regent, in 1799. Somerset House in London, his most famous building, which absorbed most of his energies over a period of two decades The gilded state coach that is used at coronations. Hedsor House, Buckinghamshire, the seat of Lord Boston, equerry to George III, for James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, he designed Charlemont House and the Casino at Marino, as well as the chapel and public theatre in Trinity College, Dublin. He is also associated with Gothic additions to Milton Abbey in Dorset, wick House, Richmond Hill, commissioned in 1771 by painter Sir Joshua Reynolds

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Dunmore Pineapple
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The Dunmore Pineapple, a folly ranked as the most bizarre building in Scotland, stands in Dunmore Park, near Airth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Dunmore Park, the home of the Earls of Dunmore, includes a large country mansion, Dunmore House. This allowed the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, and also of ornamental plants, the larger of the two gardens covers about six acres, located on a gentle south-facing slope. South-facing slopes are the spot for walled gardens and for the cultivation of frost-sensitive plants. Along the north edge of the garden, the slope had probably originally been more steep, a building containing a hothouse was built into this wall in 1761 by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. The hothouse, which was located in the floor of the building, was used, among other things. The south-facing ground floor, which is now covered in stucco, additional heat was provided by a furnace-driven heating system that circulated hot air through cavities in the wall construction of the adjoining hothouse buildings. The smoke from the furnace was expelled through four chimneys, cleverly disguised as Grecian urns, the upper floor, which is at ground level when approached from the raised northern lawn, contained two small cottage-like apartments, or bothies, for the gardeners. Murray left Scotland after the structure had been built. The upper-floor pavilion or summerhouse with its cupola and the Palladian lower-floor portico on the south side were added after Murray’s return from Virginia. The building is a mixture of architectural styles, the south entrance takes the form of a characteristically Palladian Serliana archway, incorporating Tuscan columns. The keystone of the Serliana arch is inscribed with the date “1761, others suggest that the pineapple was constructed after Murrays return from America in 1776. Above the Serliana arch is inserted a “later and clumsier, ” panel bearing a carving of a heart charged with a cinquefoil knot. The door, on the side, exits onto the upper level of the garden. Inside the pavilion, the walls are gently curved, so that the room is circular rather than octagonal. Even the door and the panes of glass in the seven windows are curved, the pavilion is just large enough to house a round table and some chairs. The pineapple is around 14 metres high and constitute a stunning example of the stonemasons craft, despite the unconventional design and the mix of architectural styles, the effect is harmonious because the pineapple and the portico are made of the same stone and are of a consistent width. Together, they draw the eye upwards in a smooth motion

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Somerset House
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Somerset House is a large Neoclassical building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The building, originally the site of a Tudor palace, was designed by Sir William Chambers in 1776, the East Wing forms part of the adjacent Strand campus of Kings College London. In the sixteenth century, the Strand, the bank of the Thames between the City of London and the Palace of Westminster was a favoured site for the mansions of the nobility. In 1539 Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, obtained a grant of land at Chester Place, outside Temple Bar, when his nephew the boy-king Edward VI came to the throne in 1547, Seymour became Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector. Pauls Cathedral which were demolished partly at his behest as part of the ongoing Dissolution of the Monasteries and it was a two storey house built around a quadrangle with a gateway rising to three stories and was one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture in England. It is not known who designed the building, before it was finished, however, Somerset was overthrown, attainted by Parliament and in 1552 was executed on Tower Hill. Somerset Place then came into the possession of the Crown and his royal nephews half-sister the future Queen Elizabeth I lived there during the reign of her half-sister Queen Mary I. The process of completion and improvement was slow and costly, as late as 1598 Stow refers to it as yet unfinished. In the 17th century, the house was used as a residence by queens consort, during the reign of King James I, the building became the London residence of his wife, Anne of Denmark, and was renamed Denmark House. She commissioned a number of additions and improvements, some to designs by Inigo Jones. In particular, during the period between 1630 and 1635 he built a Chapel where Henrietta Maria of France, wife of King Charles I and this was in the care of the Capuchin Order and was on a site to the south-west of the Great Court. A small cemetery was attached and some of the tombstones are still to be built into one of the walls of a passage under the present quadrangle. Royal occupation of Somerset House was interrupted by the English Civil War and they failed to find a buyer, though a sale of the contents realised the very considerable sum of £118,000. Use was still found for it however, part of it served as an Army headquarters, General Fairfax being given official quarters there, lodgings were also provided for certain other Parliamentary notables. It was in Somerset House that Oliver Cromwells body lay in state after his death in 1658, however she returned to France in 1665 before it was finished. It was then used as a residence by Catherine of Braganza. During her time it received a certain notoriety as being, in the popular mind, Somerset House was refurbished by Sir Christopher Wren in 1685. After the Glorious Revolution in 1688, Somerset House entered on a period of decline, being used for grace

4.
Royal Academy of Arts
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The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. The Royal Academy of Arts was founded through an act of King George III on 10 December 1768 with a mission to promote the arts of design in Britain through education and exhibition. Supporters wanted to foster a national school of art and to encourage appreciation, fashionable taste in 18th-century Britain was based on continental and traditional art forms, providing contemporary British artists little opportunity to sell their works. From 1746 the Foundling Hospital, through the efforts of William Hogarth, the success of this venture led to the formation of the Society of Artists of Great Britain and the Free Society of Artists. Both these groups were primarily exhibiting societies, their success was marred by internal factions among the artists. The combined vision of education and exhibition to establish a school of art set the Royal Academy apart from the other exhibiting societies. It provided the foundation upon which the Royal Academy came to dominate the art scene of the 18th and 19th centuries, supplanting the earlier art societies. Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect, used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support of the Academy, the painter Joshua Reynolds was made its first president. Francis Milner Newton was elected the first secretary, a post he held for two decades until his resignation in 1788, the instrument of foundation, signed by George III on 10 December 1768, named 34 founder members and allowed for a total membership of 40. William Hoare and Johann Zoffany were added to this list later by the King and are known as nominated members, among the founder members were two women, a father and daughter, and two sets of brothers. The Royal Academy was initially housed in cramped quarters in Pall Mall, although in 1771 it was given temporary accommodation for its library and schools in Old Somerset House, then a royal palace. In 1780 it was installed in purpose-built apartments in the first completed wing of New Somerset House, located in the Strand and designed by Chambers, the Academy moved in 1837 to Trafalgar Square, where it occupied the east wing of the recently completed National Gallery. These premises soon proved too small to house both institutions, in 1868,100 years after the Academys foundation, it moved to Burlington House, Piccadilly, where it remains. Burlington House is owned by the British Government, and used rent-free by the Royal Academy, the first Royal Academy exhibition of contemporary art, open to all artists, opened on 25 April 1769 and ran until 27 May 1769. 136 works of art were shown and this exhibition, now known as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, has been staged annually without interruption to the present day. In 1870 the Academy expanded its programme to include a temporary annual loan exhibition of Old Masters. The range and frequency of these exhibitions have grown enormously since that time. Britains first public lectures on art were staged by the Royal Academy, led by Reynolds, the first president, a program included lectures by Dr. William Hunter, John Flaxman, James Barry, Sir John Soane, and J. M. W. Turner